PAST SIMPLE VS PAST PROGRESSIVE




PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE

FUNCTIONS OF THE PAST CONTINUOUS
The past continuous describes actions or events in a time before now, which began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking. In other words, it expresses an unfinished or incomplete action in the past.
IT IS USED:
  • Often, to describe the background in a story written in the past tense, e.g. "The sun was shining and the birds were singing as the elephant came out of the jungle. The other animals were relaxing in the shade of the trees, but the elephant moved very quickly. She was looking for her baby, and she didn't notice the hunter who was watching her through his binoculars. When the shot rang out, she was running towards the river..."
  • to describe an unfinished action that was interrupted by another event or action, e.g. "I was having a beautiful dream when the alarm clock rang."
  • to express a change of mind: e.g. "I was going to spend the day at the beach but I've decided to get my homework done instead."
  • with 'wonder', to make a very polite request: e.g. "I was wondering if you could baby-sit for me tonight."

EXAMPLES:

  • They were waiting for the bus when the accident happened.
  • Caroline was skiing when she broke her leg.
  • When we arrived he was having a bath.
  • When the fire started I was watching television.


FORMING THE PAST CONTINUOUS


The past continuous of any verb is composed of two parts : the past tense of the verb "to be" (was/were), and the base of the main verb +ing.


Subjectwas/werebase + ing
Theywerewatching
Affirmative
Shewasreading
Negative
Shewasn'treading
Interrogative
Wasshereading?
Interrogative negative
Wasn'tshereading?









SIMPLE PAST TENSE

DEFINITION OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

The simple past tense, sometimes called the preterite, is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of past tense in English. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past and action duration is not important.
EXAMPLES
  • John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
  • My father died last year.
  • He lived in Fiji in 1976.
  • We crossed the Channel yesterday.
You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions
  • frequency: often, sometimes, always
    I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
    I often brought my lunch to school.

  • a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
    We saw a good film last week.
    Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
    She finished her work atseven o'clock
    I went to the theatre last night

  • an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago 
    People lived in caves a long time ago.
    She played the piano when she was a child.


Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

FORMING THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

PATTERNS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE FOR REGULAR VERBS
Affirmative
Subject+ verb + ed 
Iskipped. 
Negative
Subject+ did not+ infinitive without to
Theydidn'tgo.
Interrogative
Did+ subject+ infinitive without to
Didshearrive?
Interrogative negative
Did not+ subject+ infinitive without to
Didn'tyouplay?
TO WALK
AffirmativeNegativeInterrogative
I walkedI didn't walkDid I walk?
You walkedYou didn't walkDid you walk?
He walkedHe didn't walkDid he walk?
We walkedWe didn't walkDid we walk?
They walkedThey didn't walkDid they walk?
SIMPLE PAST TENSE OF TO BE, TO HAVE, TO DO
SubjectVerb
 BeHaveDo
Iwashaddid
Youwerehaddid
He/She/Itwashaddid
Wewerehaddid
Youwerehaddid
Theywerehaddid

NOTES ON AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, & INTERROGATIVE FORMS

AFFIRMATIVE
The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.
  • I was in Japan last year
  • She had a headache yesterday.
  • We did our homework last night.
NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE
For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "to do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "did", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "did", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".
The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "did".
EXAMPLES
  • They weren't in Rio last summer.
  • We didn't have any money.
  • We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
  • We didn't do our exercises this morning.
  • Were they in Iceland last January?
  • Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
  • Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?
Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.

SIMPLE PAST, IRREGULAR VERBS

Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.
TO GO
  • He went to a club last night.
  • Did he go to the cinema last night?
  • He didn't go to bed early last night.
TO GIVE
  • We gave her a doll for her birthday.
  • They didn't give John their new address.
  • Did Barry give you my passport?
TO COME

  • My parents came to visit me last July.
  • We didn't come because it was raining.
  • Did he come to your party last week?






Comentarios

Publicar un comentario

Entradas populares de este blog

USE SO, TOO, EITHER, Y NEITHER

USE  SO, TOO, EITHER, Y NEITHER In English we can use too or so in short answers to show that we agree with someone. Notice that we use the auxiliary verb of the affirmation in the short answer.   AFFIRMATION SHOW AGREEMENT I  am  learning English with Duolingo. Estoy aprendiendo inglés con Duolingo. So  am  I. I  am  too. Me too. I ’ve  completed five levels. He completado cinco niveles. So  have  I. I  have  too Me too. I  can  speak in English pretty well now. Puedo hablar en inglés bastante bien ahora. So  can  I. I  can  too. Me too. I ’d  like to learn another language someday. Me gustaría aprender otro idioma algún día. So  would  I. I  would  too. Me too. If there is no auxiliary verb in the affirmation, then we use do. It always has to be in the same time as the affirmation. AFFIRMATION agree with affirmative ...
Leer más

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

Imagen
RELATIVE PRONOUNS Relative pronouns  introduce relative clauses. The most common relative pronouns are  who, whom, whose, which, that . The relative pronoun we use depends on what we are referring to and the type of relative clause. who people and sometimes pet animals defining and non-defining which animals and things defining and non-defining; clause referring to a whole sentence that people, animals and things; informal defining only whose possessive meaning; for people and animals usually; sometimes for things in formal situations defining and non-defining whom people in formal styles or in writing; often with a preposition; rarely in conversation; used instead of  who  if  who  is the object defining and non-defining no relative pronoun when the relative pronoun defines the object of...
Leer más

USE OF ALREADY,YET,FOR AND SINCE IN PRESENT PERFECT

Imagen
USE OF ALREADY,YET,FOR AND SINCE IN PRESENT PERFECT Using the present perfect, we can define a period of time before now by considering its  duration,  with  for +  a period of time,  or by considering its  starting point , with  since +  a point in time . FOR and SINCE can also both be used with the past perfect. SINCE can only be used with perfect tenses. FOR can also be used with the simple past. FOR + A PERIOD OF TIME for  six years,  for  a week,  for  a month,  for  hours,  for  two hours I have worked here  for  five years. SINCE + A POINT IN TIME since  this morning,  since  last week,  since  yesterday since  I was a child,  since  Wednesday,  since  2 o'clock I have worked here  since  1990. PRESENT PERFECT WITH FOR She has lived here  for  twenty years. We have taught at this school  f...
Leer más